Fate Poems | Poemist

Popular Fate Poems

Duino Elegies: The First Elegy

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
And so I force myself, swallow and hold back
the surging call of my dark sobbing.

......

The Duel

by Eugene Field

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

......

Color-Blind

by Floyd Hildebrand

Have you ever stopped to think and wonder,
Just how you would react, if your face,
Was of a different color, and ponder,
What if I came from a different race? Would I still harbor a prejudice,
And be concerned about someone's root,
If fate had rolled a different dice,
What if the shoe embraced a different foot? Our life stems from a heart that's red,
Symbolic of our love and friendship,
Regardless of the race, or how bred,
An undeniable biological relationship. So tell me why, some humans think,

......

Circe

by Augusta Davies Webster

The sun drops luridly into the west;
darkness has raised her arms to draw him down
before the time, not waiting as of wont
till he has come to her behind the sea;
and the smooth waves grow sullen in the gloom
and wear their threatening purple; more and more
the plain of waters sways and seems to rise
convexly from its level of the shores;
and low dull thunder rolls along the beach:
there will be storm at last, storm, glorious storm.

......

The Fortune-Favored

by Friedrich Schiller

Ah! happy he, upon whose birth each god
Looks down in love, whose earliest sleep the bright
Idalia cradles, whose young lips the rod
Of eloquent Hermes kindles--to whose eyes,
Scarce wakened yet, Apollo steals in light,
While on imperial brows Jove sets the seal of might!
Godlike the lot ordained for him to share,
He wins the garland ere he runs the race;
He learns life's wisdom ere he knows life's care,
And, without labor vanquished, smiles the grace.

......

Recent Fate Poems

Pondering the MultiVerse

by Taryn G

in another universe
you and I never part.
the sun comes up and we still lay together,
washed with the glow of another day
very much in love.

sometimes knowing this universe exists
and that I will never see it
hurts me in a way I never knew I could be hurt.

......

Sonnet 65: I Wonder, Where Your True Fate Is Laid, Ye

by Pijush Biswas

I wonder, where your true fate is laid, ye
Either in deep sea, or where you didn't go
Whereby bent your true majesty; I see
That, so an unwanted glory, always,
Remains at the left and ne'er change to so
O, petty wear that unsuited, a dress
No one loves to bring such mystery;
The best of all ne'er surpasses in gloom
And shop 'en in accident but worry,
And being mature in mind does a much

......

Do you have an opportunity?/А чи дано тобі? (Ukrainian)

by Halyna Myroslava

А чи дано тобі,
Початому в мокрому лоні,
Викупатись у Вселюбові істини,
Пригадуючи тишу серед океану води
і потоків крови,
Коли пам’ять завмирає перед глибинами пізнання.

А чи дано тобі,
Окресленому двома півкулями на мапі,
названій мозком,

......

And everything was wrong/І все було не так (Ua)

by Halyna Myroslava

І все було не так
Спершу було Я
Що не знало ні неба ні землі
Стиснене в порожнині матері
глухими стінами
Я
нестримно шукаюче виходу
з власної пустоти
ростучого всередині всесвіту
Щупальцями клітин роздираюче простір

......

The Show Must Go On

by Richard Randolph

The Show Must Go On

Once there was a poor actor
who grew tired of the part he played,
so one day he changed all the words around,
just said what he wanted to say.

'You can't do that! ' cried the director,
'the plot's been carefully arranged.
You must die at the end of Act IV.

......